January 22-28

Monday- Hours at the cyber cafe with Emily to plan our February vacation to Spain and Italy. We are going to spend three days on the Costa Brava in Spain, and then fly to Italy and spend time in Rome, Naples and around, the Amalfi coast, and maybe a city called Matera with prehistoric cave homes dug into the mountain sides!

Tuesday- Dinner and travel planning session with Katie and Emily. We are planning on rejoining each other in mid-may in Rome, and then traveling to Greece, followed by Istanbul. After that, plans are somewhat unclear, but may include such places as Budapest, Vienna, Prague, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. There are many factors to consider (like money and time!), so I'll keep you updated as I know!

Wednesday- Pygmalion! Pygmalion is the original of My Fair Lady. The play was wonderful, with beautiful sets and fabulous costumes. There was no music, but it was so enjoyable! The funny thing about the play is that the accent that Eliza has before she goes to Prof. Higgins is usually a strong cockney accent. Then she learns to be a lady and speak in a more refined accent. Since the play was in French, she needed to have a strong French accent that would be equivalent. So, of course, she has this incredibly strong accent from the South- the exact accent that everyone here in the Midi has, and the one that I am gaining. It was funny to me to hear this accent being used as the 'uneducated, unrefined' accent, but I wonder if my fellow theater-goers were at all offended? They didn't seem to be.

Thursday- House warming at Elena's, then out at the pub and dancing at cafe de nuit until 4:30am with Julien, Susan, Elena, Nico, Jerome, etc.

Friday- On Friday night I had dinner at Michaela's. She made a traditional German dish that was delicious but super heavy. Then I met up with Nico and his friends at the pub, but was so tired from the night before, that I didn't stay out too late. Besides, I wanted to be in good shape for Saturday night!

Saturday- La soiree Petasse. The theme of Saturday's joint birthday and going away parties, and definitely not my idea. A huge party at my friend Charlotte's apartment for her birthday, my own, and Julien's going-away. The men were dressed also as trashy women, and really seemed to enjoy it. We filled the apartment, danced like crazy, and had a merry time. We exchanged gifts, I got from everyone a really cute Carcassonne t-shirt. Then we went out to cafe de nuit, that same late-night club, until they closed around 4:30am, and then back to Charlotte's. It was an interesting night, complete with a proposition to accompany a monsieur on his weekend trip to Portugal, and various conversations with the guys about how to remove makeup.

Sunday- RECOVERY and cleaning the apartment after the party!